No evidence that Kabila is alive

After more than 24 hours of speculation over whether Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Laurent-Desire Kabila was shot dead at his Kinshasa residence on Tuesday, firm evidence supporting claims that he was still alive had yet to emerge. Contradicting statements by the Belgian and British governments that the president had perished during or soon after the attack, the Congolese government said on Wednesday afternoon that Kabila had been flown out of the country.

However, Zimbabwe's state news agency Ziana reported Defence Minister Moven Mahachi as saying that Kabila had died early on Wednesday on his way to Zimbabwe. Although Mahachi later said he had been quoted out of context, he didn't withdraw the comments. A Congolese DC-8 jet was reported to have landed at Harare international airport early on Wednesday morning. Journalists in the capital spent the day trying to locate the Congolese leader.

"I've phoned round the hospitals where he could have been admitted, but there's no evidence he's here," a foreign broadcast journalist told IRIN on Wednesday afternoon. Insisting that Kabila was alive, a Congolese presidential spokesman said that Kabila's son, Major-General Joseph Kabila, would head a provisional government in his father's absence.

However, earlier reports said that Joseph Kabila was also injured or killed during the attack on his father. Analysts told IRIN that the fact he made no statement on Congolese radio or television after it was announced he would assume power, fuelled speculation that he too was dead or had left the country.